The Ballad of Luwei

Chapter Two

To say that Weiwei was annoyed from losing the cuju game was an understatement. She thrice cursed Zhen Shaoxiang for his lack of true leadership skills. He was too reliant on his father's achievements instead of attempting to have his own. She shucked off the uniform and quickly put on her zhiduo. She needed to return to her room in the tavern and send signal for her departure. She had seen plenty and it was time to go before Zhen Shaoxiang got word out to his father that the Red General was seen in Zhi Yi instead of guarding the princess at the Northern Border.

Weiwei noticed the moment she exited she had not one but two tails. One she recognized as members from Zhen Shaoxiang's entourage, the other she didn't recognize which made them much more dangerous. Young Zhen's tail was laughable and Weiwei was able to shake them in the crowd. The other tail was much more observant and was much harder to lose the tail but she was able to after getting to the marketplace and a signaled for a distraction by the spies she had installed for her to make a clean getaway. Weiwei entered her room in a rush and changed her clothing and pulled everything that she had hidden onto her person. She was nearly startled when she heard the coded knock on her door.

"Princess, your traveling papers." Kei Oh handed her a parcel of papers along with a small packed meal. "The caravan will be leaving within the hour at the north gate. I have Xiao Yang waiting for you to travel back with."

"Thank you my friend." Weiwei clasped his arm warmly. "We will meet again soon." With that Weiwei exited the back of the tavern and headed towards the northern gate. Xiao Yang was easy enough to find pretending to be an excitable child browsing the booths. "Yang'er" Weiwei called for her young traveling companion.

"Brother Wei!" Xiao Yang ran up to his disguised princess. "I can't wait until we get to Uncle Feng and Aunt Xue's! Mother told me that Aunt Xue's planned on making mati for us everyday. Can you believe our luck?" Weiwei understood the coded message that they would be traveling to the north towards Duke Feng Teng's domain then midway separating from the group and following up the Yangtze River until they reached the village of Xue Shan to join her entourage then finally officially return to the Luwei encampment and await for her mother's summons.

"Yang'er, if you eat mati everyday I'm going to have to start calling you yezhu if you are going to eat like one." Weiwei's coded message stating that there has been an unknown tail on her and she did not know how dangerous it is. Xiao Yang nodded and the two looked lingered around the north gate shops to make it look that they were just a pair of naive brothers going to visit relatives. Joking with one another on if they should bring some extra gifts for their aunt and uncle and whatnot. All too soon it was time to leave with the caravan. Weiwei and Xiao Yang spent three days with the caravan until it forked to the west. The trek to Duke Feng Teng's territory was quiet, a little too quiet for Weiwei's taste but Weiwei needed to return. Her tribe has been without both her or her second in command for far too long as it is. As they made their way into the local tavern Weiwei noticed some vaguely familiar faces. She could not place where she had seen them in the past but knew it wasn't from the tribes. She had tried to brush it off but her mind just would not let her. She chose to stay out of their way but to keep an eye on them just the same. If they were going to be trouble she wanted to already be prepared for it. Weiwei's gut told her not to stay long in Feng Teng's territory. The two disguised travel's figured that it was time to not only change their planned travel but their appearance and in the early hours of the morning.

Early the next day a doctor and his apprentice left in a donkey drawn cart out of Feng territory. Weiwei and Xiao Yang made excellent time to Xue Shan. They went straight to the temple so Weiwei could trade out with her decoy, Tian Sisi and resume her place as the princess on her relief mission to bring medicine and supplies to Xue Shan due to the previous season's drought causing multiple crops dying. When Weiwei met with Sisi the first thing Weiwei did was request a report from Sisi to find out what had been happening in Xue Shan since she had left over a month ago. Sisi reported that she had heard rumors of minor corruption in some of the officials here but it was nothing to cause too much concern. A few of the local nobility had attempted to gain a meeting with the princess in hopes to make a wedding alliance or to try to take advantage of her due to being a female with power. Weiwei shook her head and requested that clothing be brought to her and informed Sisi for the rest of their trip that she will take her true identity.

Neither Weiwei nor Sisi did not leave the room that they were having their meeting in until Weiwei was adorned in proper attire. Weiwei needed to meet with her other stand in Qiao Lei. He needed to know that her General self or as she wanted him to portray it that someone who was masquerading as the red general was in Zhi Yi recently. As the two females stepped into the courtyard Weiwei sent Sisi who had resumed her role as the princess' attendant to have He Yi Chen to join her at the pergola overlooking the pond.

Sisi and He Yi Chen returned to their Princess and both bowed deeply before Weiwei told them to be seated. Weiwei had He Yi Chen report the same way that Sisi had before telling him about her observations and travel. She directed him to what their next action was to be leaving in two days time and that they were all returning home. She also informed them that Kei Oh would be returning to their tribe on a permanent basis and that they would be leaving just as soon as her counselor joined them. That evening Weiwei returned to the house in Xue Shan that she was officially staying in. When she entered she greeted Shanshan, the second daughter to her mother's sister that had been helping cover for her while in the providence. After hugs and laughter Shanshan followed Weiwei into her rooms. "Dear, sweet, royal cousin, I have news that will affect further visits. My parents along with the matchmaker have already agreed to have me wed with Feng Teng. A bride price has already been agreed upon and by the next season I will be sent on my wedding sedan to the south west."

Weiwei was shocked at how nonchalant Shanshan was about her future. True it was a good match for Shanshan but to Weiwei's knowledge she thought that Shanshan didn't want to be wed and enjoyed the freedom that her parents gave her with her home away from them. "Are you happy with the arrangement, Shanshan? I know that Feng Teng is a fair but strict ruler but not much else."

Shanshan smiled at her genius younger cousin "Weiwei, I've been friends with Feng Yue since I was a little girl and she has said nothing but positive things about her brother. I think I will be happy in this arrangement. Don't worry about my happiness. I was not born to be unhappy."

Weiwei squoze her cousin's hand and told her that she would be happy for her as long as Shanshan was happy with it. Shanshan giggled and hugged her cousin and giggled. "Soon it will be your turn, mighty Weiwei." Weiwei smiled and shook her head at Shanshan's silliness before pushing the older girl out of her room so she could finally get some rest in a proper bed.

Days passed quietly until Kei Ou arrived. Weiwei was mainly spotted by the outside world telling stories to the refugee children that were housed outside in the makeshift encampment outside of the temple. The Northern Princess enjoyed spending time with the children; it wasn't something she could indulge in back home as much as she would prefer due to the plethora of other duties she had duties. But she always made sure to set some time aside for the tribe's children no matter how tired she was. One the fourth day after Weiwei and Xiao Yang arrived in Xue Shan Kei Oh appeared at the temple. When he reported to Weiwei he informed her that he had discovered that agents from both the tribes and even Tsinghua's prince had been searching for the person who had replaced Zhen Shaoxiang in the cuju game. He informed his princess that he had to deviate from the original plan to come straight to Xue Shan due to people asking too many questions. With Kei Ou's report cemented Weiwei's plan to return back to the Luwei tribe as quickly as possible. It was decided that the Princess and her entourage would be leaving in the next five days. Staying long enough to avoid suspicion of a hasty departure. But leaving early enough to return home quickly. On the day of their departure Weiwei thanked Shanshan for her hospitality and promised to send something special for her wedding day.